Rehco – Magician Extra Ordinary

This throw-out card for a magician named Rehco has always fascinated me. The reason being, it has “Good Luck” written on the face of the card three times. On the back of the card is an advertisement for a funeral home! Is that not an interesting contrast?

 

When I went to research Rehco, I could find nothing on the massive magic database Ask Alexander. So I thought I would do a Google search for the funeral home as I know most funeral homes are around for years if not decades. Sure enough, this business in North Tonawanda, New York is still around and has been since 1947 and is still in the same location, and even the last four digits of the phone number are the same! Wow!

I could not find Rehco however. Then I remembered a free newspaper database that a friend told me about. It is Fultonhistory.com and has a search engine for New York state newspapers. Putting in “Rehco magician” got me two hits, and a door was opened.

North Tonawanda New York Evening News for April 3, 1953

 

Not only did this newspaper story tell us about a Rehco performance, but “Everyone attending will be presented a 'good luck' Rehco card”. It is not every day that a throw-out card makes the papers!

Another Tonawanda Evening News story from October 5, 1985 had an interesting article about a North Tonawanda Public Library exhibit of magic memorabilia that had belonged at one time to a deceased man whose “name was Roland Hauck and worked professionally under the name of Rehco”.

Looking up Roland Hauck gave me a number of items from several New York State newspapers. In March of 1962, this story ran which had a photo that included Roland.

From the Tonawanda Evening News for March 26, 1962.

It is amazing what was considered to be newsworthy back then. In a different story under the topic of “Fire Calls”, Mr. Hauck fainted while at church in August of 1962, and the fire department had to be summoned and Hauck was given oxygen. The story gave his age, address and lots of personal details that might be considered an invasion of privacy today.

Going back to Ask Alexander and searching for the name Hauck gave me a couple of references for a Ron Hauck being a guest of the Rochester, New York assembly of the S.A.M. This clipping for M-U-M for May of 1972 had this to say:

 

From what I have been able to find online, it would appear Roland E. Hauck was born on October 21, 1898 and lived most, if not all of his life in North Tonawanda, New York. He passed away in May, 1976, at the age of 77.

I did find an obituary for Roland Hauck’s wife who was named Irene. She died at the age of 64 in 1973. Her funeral services were held at a funeral home in North Tonawanda…. the same funeral home as on the back of Rehco’s throw-out card from years before.